This month of April is the month of the children, crowned by the celebration of its day throughout the Mexican Republic: April 30, a date commemorated since 1924.
Children make up the most wonderful group that exists on earth, so it is not strange that José Vasconcelos thought of them and their education in a primordial way so that “… lived in school the best hours of their lives…”
Today, this group is going through difficult times given that the innumerable crises and, also the pandemic, have exposed them, in a direct way, to indescribable sufferings.
“According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), child development, which ranges from six to thirteen years of age, is key to consolidating physical and intellectual capacities, to socializing with others, and to forming identity and self-esteem.”
Children today live in a world in which war, greed, insensitivity and pride have managed to reveal their greatest threat: hatred.
In themselves, climate change and the destruction of our environment, forced migration, inequalities and the prioritization of predatory business practices, threaten the present and future of the world’s children. On the other hand, politicians have not yet agreed on how to see the future laying foundations in a weak present and many, almost certainly, do not know the fundamental rights of children: right to life, education, identity, health, freedom, just to name a few.
For all this, the objective of the celebration of Children’s Day should be to raise awareness, even for just a moment, about the reality in which the child population lives. Know the rights to which they have access as human beings, banish the social discrimination to which they are subjected and carry out activities so that their well-being is permanent and, the improvement of their environment, a reality. Their present and their controversial future should be our top priority.
Fortunately, in almost all celebrations that include face painting, puppets, music, cinema, walks, gifts and much more, practically all of them, include a mention of the fundamental rights of these young people.
They are already living in the world we leave them and will inherit, in an abracadabra, the hard responsibility of continuing to seek solutions to the problems that we adults have not been able to solve.
Determined that the world is better for our children, let us agree that young people spend an excellent Children’s Day, that they live an exciting month of April, and that their lives are tied to a providential future where it is, a relevant reality, love in the family, peace in the home and where the words of Vasconcelos sound in all areas: that the kids live in childhood the best hours of their lives.
